Ricky Hatton survived an early scare before he knocked out Colombian Carlos Maussa in the ninth round to unify the IBF and WBA world light welterweight titles.
Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu to capture the IBF title in June and his hopes of adding Maussa's WBA crown suffered a blow when a clash of heads left him with a cut above his left eye in the opening round.
The Briton continued to press forward but was then cut above his right eye in the third.
Despite the early setbacks, Hatton was always in control of the bout and when Maussa began to tire in the fifth round, the Colombian was forced to cling on over the following few rounds as his opponent applied strong pressure.
Hatton (40-0) stepped up the pace in the ninth, bombarding Maussa with a flurry of punches before knocking him to the canvas with a crushing left hook.
A shaken Maussa slowly rose to his feet but was unable to beat the count.
"I was so built up for obvious reasons and the cuts came along because I wasn't as cautious as usual," Hatton said immediately after the bout. "I was loading up with big bombs. The red mist came down a bit."
Hatton was taken to hospital straight after the fight to have his cuts treated and his trainer Billy Graham revealed that the fighter faced six months on the sidelines.
"As a precaution, we're getting it stitched by a plastic surgeon. He's going to be out for six months, but it's been a hard year for him and he really needs a rest," he said.
